The Indianapolis Colts are one of few teams in the NFL this season with what’s expected to be a traditional, workhorse-type of running back situation.
Jonathan Taylor is projected among the league’s top fantasy RBs for good reason, but that doesn’t mean fantasy football managers shouldn’t take a closer look at the Colts’ RB depth chart and the potential of backup Trey Sermon before making their draft decisions.
Let’s examine the fantasy outlooks for Taylor and Sermon in 2024.
Jonathan Taylor’s Fantasy Outlook and Projections
- PPR fantasy Points: 311.7 (270.7 Non-PPR)
- Rushing Yards: 1561.4
- Rushing Touchdowns: 12.8
- Receptions: 41.0
- Receiving Yards: 298.4
- Receiving Touchdowns: 1.3
Taylor’s 2023 campaign was an incredibly unique fantasy journey that was filled with drama, injuries, and flashes of former greatness.
Taylor started the year on injured reserve with an ankle injury that cost him the first four games of the season. He also missed another three games with a thumb injury over the back half of the season. These durability concerns have led to Taylor missing 13 games over the last two seasons.
Unfortunately for fantasy managers who rolled the dice on Taylor early in their fantasy drafts, he wasn’t a league-winning type producer even when he was on the field in 2023. To be brutally honest, Zack Moss was a huge thorn in Taylor’s fantasy side all season long with his 183 carries for 794 yards and seven total TDs, which was nearly identical to Taylor’s 2023 stat line of 169 carries for 741 yards and eight TDs.
However, his usage towards the end of the season suggests Taylor should still be in the RB1 conversation entering 2024, especially if head coach Shane Steichen is able to unlock the elite potential of franchise quarterback Anthony Richardson this year.
Additionally, I don’t see a running back on the Colts roster who poses a similar threat to Taylor’s overall volume that we saw from Moss last season.
– Derek Tate, Fantasy Football Analyst
Trey Sermon’s Fantasy Outlook and Projections
- PPR fantasy Points: 76.2 (65.8 Non-PPR)
- Rushing Yards: 500.6
- Rushing Touchdowns: 1.4
- Receptions: 10.4
- Receiving Yards: 72.6
- Receiving Touchdowns: 0.1
All signs point to Sermon being the RB2 in Indianapolis, and that makes him worthy of a roster spot in deeper formats. It should go without saying that he wouldn’t pick up 100% of the Taylor role in the event of an injury (Taylor: 13 missed games over the past two seasons), but he doesn’t need that sort of volume to matter.
The Colts project as a fringe top-10 offense as long as Anthony Richardson is under center, and if that’s the case, any player with a path to playing time deserves to be rostered. Richardson will have this team in scoring position, and while Sermon won’t get much work outside of an injury to Taylor, his proximity to consistent work in that situation is stash-worthy.
– Kyle Soppe, Fantasy Football Analyst